Trunk.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PAUL C. SCHROEDER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 SEARS, ROEBUCK AND COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

TRUN K.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 9, 1915. Serial No. 20,126.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PAUL C. SCIECROEDER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Trunks, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to produce an improved trunk in which the walls are reinforced at their edges and corners so as to to produce a strong and rigid structure capable of withstanding severe strains and shocks.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a trunk embodying the features of my invention, the View showing merely the plain body of the trunk, without the covering material or any of the usual furnishings. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section through the trunk. Fig. 3 is an interior view of one corner, the view being a section taken approximately in the plane of line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a sectional detail view illustrating the manner in which the edges of the walls are reinforced. Fig. 5 is a fragmentary View of one corner of the trunk showing a portion of one wall and its reinforcing strip spaced away from the other parts to better illustrate their relation. Figs. 6, 7 and 8 are detail views of the end portions of three reinforcing strips which abut at each of the corners of the trunk.

Each of the walls 10 is rabbeted on its inner face, as indicated at 11, along all four of its edges. The meeting edges of any two adjacent walls overlap each other, and in the corner formed by the walls or in the two merging rabbets is fitted the square corner of a reinforcing strip 12 of triangular form, the two acute angles of the strip preferably being flattened off, as indicated at 13, to abut squarely against the shoulders 14 formed by the rabbets. faces of the strips are adjacent to the interior of the trunk. Each of the strips 12 is firmly glued to the walls 10, and in addition a suitable number of fastening devices The diagonal gether.

At each corner of the trunk the ends of the three reinforcing strips are shaped so as to fit close together and form a strong rigid joint. This is done preferably by providing a square or perpendicular end face 17 on one of the strips which abuts squarely against the opposing trunk wall; by forming a single beveled face 18 on the end of another of the strips which face is adapted to abut against the diagonal face of the first mentioned strip; and by forming two'beveled faces 19, or in other words providing a wedge-shaped end, upon the third strip, which end is adapted to abut snugly against the two diagonal faces of the first mentioned strips. The joint thus formed is strong and rigid and is capable of withstandlng severe strains. Preferably the reinforcing stripsare made of harder or tougher wood than that of which the walls 10 are formed, for the purpose of insuring greater rigidity.

I claim as my invention:

A trunk comprising walls, reinforcing strips fixed in the angles between adjacent walls, the end portions of the three strips at each corner of the trunk being shaped to abut against each other and provide a rigid joint, one of the strips having a perpendicular end abutting against the opposing wall, another of the strips having a single bevel end to' abut against the first strip, and the third strip having a double bevel or wedge-shaped end to abut against both of the two first mentioned strips.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto set my Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

